"news nation." as the senate debates two competing budget bills no one specs will pass, who or what is the key to reaching a deal on the budget. james clyburn joins me live. >> i mean, it's scary. they're seriously racist people. >> serious new fallout for npr from a hidden camera released by a conservative activist. as is the ceo is ousted, is the future of federal funding for public broadcasting officially doomed? jonathan alter will join "news nation." a line of storms sweeping across the southeast that has caused tornado touchdown and lightning strikeis now moving north. you are receiving this call since you have reached the number of tarredies allowed. >> a wake-up call for kids and parents who can't get it together in the morning. how one school is handling tardiness. and reports that mel gibson is about to reach a plea deal over domestic violence charges.

hi, everyone. i'm tamron hall. "news nation" is following developing news in the senate where the latest battle over the budget is unfolding. senators are debating competing bills that would fund the government for the remainder of the current year which ends september 30th. a stopgap bill provides funding only through march 18th. one of the bills is a republican plan to cut $61 billion in federal spending. it was passed by the gop-controlled house last month. the other is a democratic plan to cut $6.5 billion. but both proposals are expected by all accounts to fail when voting starts in about an hour. luke russert joins me live from capitol hill with the latest. what's going on there? >> reporter: tamron, as you mentioned, we expect the votes to come in about one hour. there will be a vote on a democratic plan for the budget that contains $6.5 billion and there will be a vote for the

republican plan which comes over from the house which contains $61 billion in cuts. there's been a lot of talk about that bill. it cuts a lot of things a lot of democrats like. women, infants and children nutrition fund, pel grants, things of that nature. it's not very popular with democrats. both are expected to go down. what does this mean? in the next week, there's going to have to be a compromise for a budget going forward. that most lakely not occur. kevin mccarthy hinted you could see another two to four week extension of a current government funding bill to keep the government away from a shutdown. the caveat with the that, there must be budget cuts in there for housen ares to agree with it. what you'll see today is a political vote. republican senators will vote for the republican plan, democratic senators mainly will vote for the democratic plan. you might have a few vote for the other one. however, puts us into this great

time question we've been up against over the last month or so. in the next seven days, can there be some sort of long-term compromise? house republicans have told me no, they're very critical on the white house this morning. eric cantor said why is obama not taking the lead on this. john biden and the guy they've negotiated with in the past is in europe, we're unclear who the staff is. so house republicans have left out of the process in terms of negotiation. they're the ones needed for all this to come together. most likely not going to happen in the next week. may march 18th, we're probably going to see another compromise. what is cut from that is the main question. at this point we do not note. >> for reaction to what the house republicans are saying me, joining me is congressman james clyburn of south carolina. thanks for making time for me. >> thank you for having me. >> let me get your reaction to house republicans feeling they've been left out of the

process. what politico wrote about the president's approach. they said he is taking a suppliesing father knows best to the childish congressional food fight. the outcome will have real consequences for his presidency. we saw senator manchin criticize the president's leadership on this, as wel this, as well. what is your reaction to that the president should be involved more? >> i think the president is involved and the house democrats are involved. remember, we cut $45 billion during the lame duck. we have already approved another $6 billion. i mean for the $1 billion, then $6 billion now. we're right at $45 billion. what we need to do is to approve this other $6 billion that the democrats are offering over there. we'll be at $51 billion when all

is said and done. so what i think we have demonstrated is we realize cuts need to be made. we're making those cuts, but we don't want to do it and expose the vulnerable in our society to more pain. we need to do this using the skal scapel rather than the meet ax approach the republicans seem to be doing, eliminating head start, getting rid of child nutrition programs. the kinds of programs that we need even veterans' benefits are being cut. this kind of stuff should not be exposing the vulnerable in our society to more pain. >> but with that said and you point out there are tough decisions the president has said as well, tough decisions that will be made and perhaps some organizations or programs near and dear to you and to the administration will have to take a cut here. the bottom line is, you have the american people watching this

play out. you're $52 billion apart. republicans and democrats on what needs to be cut. realistically, how do you get to close that gap without making some very difficult decisions? what's what people do every day to balance their own personal budgeted at home. >> we're making very difficult decisions. and it was a very difficult decision for us to look at a presidential cut in the pel grants programs. but he did it in such a way that we maintained the $5500 per pupil. we took the summer school out of it and that's the way we ought to be doing it. the republicans seem to be wanting to inflict pain just for the sake of inflicting pain. the american people want to see a compromise. and i think the american people can tell when a compromise is genuine and when one is not. i don't think they're putting forth a genuine offers to compromise because no democrat worth his or her salt will vote

to eliminate head start. no democrat will vote to drastically cut veterans' benefits. in fact, we have ramped up veterans' benefits to the largest it's been in the history of the veterans administration, and we are not going to be cutting veterans benefits entirely now that we are at war. we've got men and women coming back from iraq, afghanistan, all with all kinds of injuries, with all kinds of mental health problems and we're going to put the benefits program? that makes sense to the american people. we're not going to do that. that would be immoral for this country to do that. >> we're looking at another extension, according to the republican leadership. what do you want to happen? what would you like to see happen next? >> i would like to see the republicans put up which they'll have the opportunity to do because both these measures in the senate will the fail today. then the ball will be in the

republicans' court, and let's come up with a kind of a program that can allow us to extend to the end of the fiscal year so that cities and counties and states can plan better for the future. this herky-jerky stuff of approving something for two weeks and then for three weeks, then come back and look at it again, that's not the way for people to plan properly and to administer programs in an efficient and effective manner. what we're doing up here undercuts efficient sit and effectiveness and that's just not good business when you're trying to run the government. >> the james clyburn of south carolina, thank you for your time. i greatly appreciate it. right now a huge storm system is battering an area from the gulf coast to the great lakes and it is heading to the northeast. apparent tornado stouched down this morning in theodore, alabama near mobile. there is damage to a number of businesses there and a number of

vehicles even overturned. three suspected tornadoes also hit the new orleans area early today. meantime in the florida panhandle, two children have been struck by lightning while at school. the victims are a second grader and a teenager. nick walker is tracking the storm system from the weather channel's headquarters in atlanta. so it's a minimum bag of flooding, and even in the case of those children, they were hit by lightning there. >> a lot more dangerous lightning as we head through the afternoon and into the evening here around florida. maybe even more tornadoes, as well. heavy and i and snow all the way up toward the great lakes. it is a gigantic system. we'll continue to see this tornado watch go till 5:00 eastern time. a line of thunderstorms coming through the florida panhandle could spawn more lightning strikes as well as the possibility of tornadoes and damaging winds. another line went through the atlanta area moving on into south carolina now. still heavy rain back out here into georgia. the carolinas. and even farther toward the north. some areas in mississippi have

already received two to six inches of rain. we'll see another inch or so here southward and two to three inches from new york and philadelphia toward washington, d.c. that's an area that has already seen abundant rainfall. the ground is saturated and certainly we're going to have the flooding threat all the way into the weekend. we'll continue to see the storm system push eastward and northward over the next couple days with that heavy rain and possibly more severe weather tomorrow in florida. tamron. >> nick, thank you. onto the news out of libya. in libya, rebel and pro government forces seem to be deadlocked in a violent stalemate. rebel forces have reentered is the town of bin jawad today, a key government strong hold. this is video showing rebel fighters launching rockets along that territory africa daf if i's forces destroyed storage thanks in the nearby oil terminal. meanwhile, pro government forces bombed the city of zawiyah for the sixth day. that town has experienced some

of the heaviest fighting since the crisis starred last month as world powers are weighing a decision to impose a no-fly zone to ground gadhafi's warplanes. the associated press is reporting a senior libyan official arrived in cairo, egypt this morning by private jet, reportedly carrying a message everyone gadhafi. and let's bring in elliott abrams, handling middle east fairs under the george w. bush administration. thank you for joining me. >> sure. >> let's first talk about the debate over a no-fly zone. have you france and the uk saying they would like to see a no-fly zone. the united states saying we don't want to lead on this effort. we don't want again to appear that the u.s. is leading the way or getting involved in the affairs of another country, so to speak. what is your reaction to this debate over the no-fly zone? >> i think, you know in, late february the secretary of state and then about a week or so ago the president said gadhafi's got to go.

you can't make that statement and then say but we don't want to lead. we're on record now. the united states has a position, gadhafi must go. so i don't think -- i think it's too late for the president to back off. we have to show leadership. we're the united states. the gulf cooperation council, that's the gulf arab countries have called for a no-fly zone. i don't know what we're waiting for for enough people to be killed so we can call it an humanitarian emergency? >> even robert gates who has obviously been someone supported by both parties in the prior administration as well seems hesitant on this, even dismissing the talk as being careless how we flippantly throw around the idea of a no-fly zone. >> this is amazing really. the president said gadhafi must go and all options are on the table. then gates talked, used the term loose talk. then the white house chief of staff said well, these people think they're playing video games? this administration needs to get its act together. the president said gadhafi must

go. it should be our national policy to force him out. if the pentagon wants to argue with the president, they should do that privately, not on tv. it makes him look weak. >> but what about the fact in going back to the no-fly zone, russia, china not likely to support this idea? >> well, it would be best if we could get a u.n. security council resolution saying do it. the russians and chinese blocked that. we should do it with arab league and gulf arab support and european support but we should not let the russians and chinese tell us we can't do this if there are good reasons to do it. if gadhafi starts slaughtering people in towns that he retakes, are we going to sit by and just watch it and say we don't want to lead? we can't do that. it's too late. the president committed us to this outcome now. >> thank you very much for joining us. elliott abrams, the former deputy national security adviser of the george w. bush administration. as republicans -- are

republicans targeting college students to try to keep them from voting for democrats in the next election? one republican state lawmaker referred to young voters as foolish. i will talk to the president of rock the vote. you are receiving this call since you have reached the maximum number of tarredies allowed. >> imagine hearing that at the crack of dawn in your home. the latest way one school district is get zg chronically late students and their parents to get their acts together. [ female announcer ] water was meant to be perfect. crisp, clear, untouched. that's why there's brita, to make the water we drink,

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>> welcome back. is a school district in massachusetts going too far in trying to get kids who are chronically late to school on time? starting this morning, students with a history of being tardy and absent were awakened at 6:15 bright and early by a school official. the call also keep coming till

the problem is resolved. reporter victoria warren with our nbc affiliate in boston has more on the story. >> 7:45 a.m. >> a literal wake-up call for some fall river students. >> we talk about the fact that you can't educate an empty chair. >> reporter: the principal of this high school says starting wednesday students that are chronically absent or late without excuse will hear this. >> are you receiving this call since you have reaped the maximum number of tardies allowed. >> the calls coming at 6:15 in the morning. >> if they end up going to a job and late to the job or not showing up, they won't be long in that job. >> some parents say that's not the sound they want to hear in the morning. some parents believe in this case the school is overstepping its bounds. >> i think that's the parents' responsibility. i don't think that's nothing for the school. >> but the call is also meant to be a wake-up call for parents. >> they're going to hold us accountable for the results and

we need to hold them accountable for their end of the job. >> it's really about the overall effort. >> in fact, the advice principal's also been making surprise home visits to find out what's keeping the kids out of school. >> sometimes you know, because it is early even ago, they're already in their pajamas and making dinner. they're shocked. >> some parents may the methods may be unusual but they're okay if the results are there. >> whatever needs to be done. >> joining me now nationally syndicated radio talk show host michael smerconish who's also a contributor and a parent. if your phone rang at 6:15 in the morning trying to get your kids out of bed, it's the principal on the other line, what would you do? >> i'm having a great conversation about this right now. overwhelmingly callers are saying no way. this is a parents's responsibility. it's more of a cod ling mentality and also establishing a precedent here that we're going to continually let parents off the hook for things that are their responsibility. although, tamron, a guy named

ryan from indianapolis just called me and said what else is an administrator supposed to do? he's health accountable for standardized is test scores. the money is depending upon it. if the kid's not showing up, what choice does he have? >> absolutely. there have been some school districts who thought about fining parents. that was part of the conversation in chicago when i lived there, punishing the parent for the kid not showing up for school. in the end, as you point out, federal funding is dependent on the number of kids who had do show up. the principal is taking measures into his or her own hands in this one. if a parent does not step up, what are the options? what are the proper options here? >> i think that it's to summon that parent into class like the parent/teacher conference i'm going to as a normal part of the routine this coming friday. if things aren't going well, the administrator or teacher has to say you're the one on the hook for the well-being of your child. we can't do it all. teachers have become persona non

grata. we're asking them to do so much, to be a nutritiousist, an disciplinarian, a teacher, au social worker. enough. they've got to teach. that's their primary job. >> that is an interesting point you make at these times when teachers feel they're under attack across the country. thank you very much. >> see you, tamron. >> hello to your listeners. new fallout today after conservative activist targets npr. a big resignation. within the last few hours after an executive was caught on tape calling the tea party racist. and it looks like the flame of romance is burning out quicker than before. the seven-year itch, we've talked so much about it, well, now, you get the itch around three years into that relationship. we'll explain what we are talking about on "news nation."

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developing now, federal authorities say they've made an arrest in the case of a bomb left along martin luther king parade route in washington state. witnesses say fbi agents raided a home about a half hour away from spokane. the city where this bomb was found. it was found inside of a backpack on a bench before the parade started. the parade was actually rerouted. the bomb was defused. no other details are being released at this time but we may get an update from eric holder in a half hour. some of the key evidence found in the backpack at the time of the story was a t-shirt that authorities thought may help them find the suspect in this case. we'll keep you up to date as this was a big story when it first broke. the end of an era for the world's most flown spacecraft. >> two, one. booster ignition and the final liftoff of "discovery." >> space shuttle "discovery" made its final touchdown shortly

before noon at the kennedy space center in florida. the shuttle returned from a mission at the international space station during its time, "discovery" raked up 148 million miles on 39 missions. discovery's" new home, the smithsonian. shooting suspect jared loughner appears in a tucson court just about an hour from now. the question regarding his mental capacity will be a part of this hearing. and there are several motions a judge will decide on. we are live at the courthouse [ female announcer ] experience dual-action power, with listerine® whitening plus restoring rinse. it's the only listerine® that gets teeth two shades whiter and makes tooth enamel two times stronger. get dual-action listerine® whitening rinse. building whiter, stronger teeth.

welcome back to "news nation." we're following new developments in a scandal touchdown off by this conservative activist. there's been another high profile resignation at npr after james o'keefe's latest undercover sting. >> plus, jared loughner appears in a court one hour from now. we'll have the latest. a tragedy in pennsylvania. heart breaking.

seven siblings die in a fast-moving fire in the family's home. what happened there? and president obama is using facebook to tackle the problem of bullying. the head of npr resigned just today in the wake of a hidden camera video. the company executive calling the tea party members racist and saying the network does not need federal funding. it was made by conservative activist james o'keefe and posted on his website veritas. >> basically, they are, they are, they believe that they're white middle america gun-toting. i mean, it's scary. they're seriously racist, racist people. >> today npr president and ceo vivian schiller was asked to step down by the board of directors. the video has given conservatives new ammunition to pull federal funding from the programming. they claim it is left wing bias.

jonathan alter is from news week and an msnbc contributor. james o'keefe is the guy who dressed like a pimp, went after a.c.o.r.n. we saw what happened there. now he's given fuel to the fire for conservatives who really have been after npr here. >> he also had a couple other botched gorilla videos in between where he tried to invade senator mary landrieu's office under false pretenses and tried to act as if he was trying to seduce a cnn reporter. this is a very sketchy character who did this video. but the problem for npr is that this comes on top of a flap over juan williams. and you have the head of the npr foundation who has also had to resign in this affair who was, you know know, expressing strongly held opinions and in the same lunch that was being

surreptitiously frafrd he was criticizing juan williams for expressing his views. so they botched the juan williams' business. at a certain point, they consequently handle any more of this bad publicity. entirely at a sensitive budget time. >> you have people wondering is this the nail in the coffin when you look at the federal funding. eric cantor and other republicans have pointed out the line from that video with the executives saying we fee don't need their federal funding. we might be better off. that's what cantor said this morning. they may be better off without the federal funding. >> it may well be the end of federal funding for npr. that doesn't mean it's the end of npr. it's a very, very small percentage of their funding. the folks that it would hurt are the member stations which have more trouble raising money independently than npr the network. but it may well be that this does mark a period where federal

funding for npr is cut off just because even though it's a tiny part of the deficit, everybody does have to sacrifice and he did on that tape give them ammunition to say they don't really need it. >> what is the bigger thing we should be discussing? you have liberals online who say conservatives target npr as they believe a.c.o.r.n. was targeted. boom, you have this problem of the conservatives going after an enemy and bringing them down potentially. >> yeah, and so when you do, you know, have a resignation, it does tend to validate in the same way that a.c.o.r.n. essentially going out of business validated that kind of guerilla video when the video itself is extremely misleading both in the a.c.o.r.n. case and in this case. there are a lot of corners they cut. it's not exactly journalism they're doing. it's an ideological hit job. >> but you don't put the words in the man's mouth who was

there. >> you don't. that's why they're paying a price. but we have to ask, are we getting to a point in this country where anytime you and i go to lunch, tamron, we have to worry about. >> who's on the other side. >> are our private conversations being listened to with an ideological agenda. you can't express your own views in private anymore. >> governor walker in wisconsin, he thought he was talking with one of the koch brothers and now lawmakers in that state want to look whether there's legal issues what was said in that prank call there. so a greater good might come from it. >> the larger story is that all bets are off when it comes to the ideological combat we have in this country now. you have to sort of see that in this contempt. yeah, the guy said some really stupid things. but you know, does everybody have to pay necessarily so that these guys can keep doing their

surreptitious video? i don't think any of us really want a world where everything is on twitter, everything is listened to, everything is taped. it's a little creepy. >> jonathan, thank you very much. >> thanks, tamron. developing now in one hour, the man accused of killing six people and wounding arizona congresswoman gabrielle giffords will be in a tucson courtroom. it is the first time jared loughner will face a judge in the city. police say he committed the heinous crime. he is scheduled to be arraigned on 49 federal counts, including 46 new charges. the judge will also hear arguments by prosecutors for loughner to provide a handwriting sample. jay gray joins us live from the courthouse. jay, tell me more about this handwriting sample they want to have there. >> reporter: hey, tamron. we know that loughner is now inside this court facility. he's been transferred here within the last hour. as to to that sample, they say it's vital to the prosecution to compare with evidence they pulled from his home,

specifically notes that have been called threatening by some who read them detailing exactly what he planned to do and showing he had planned this attack long before it happened. that handwriting sample is very important. the prosecution also pushing for a court-ordered psychiatric exam to make loughner is competent to stand trial. that speaks to what the defense is doing here. apparently preparing for some type of insanity defense here and say that's going to take some time. you may remember that the judge here, larry byrnes, suggested this trial could start in september. today the defense will push to have that pushed back quite a bit. delayed two years or more. they say it will take that long to work through their preparations for a trial, tamron. >> jay gray live for us in tucson. i know you're going to update on this arraignment. seven siblings are dead after a devastating fire at a pennsylvania farm tops our looks at stories around the news nation. the fast-moving fire tore

through the home while the children were sleeping. the mother was in a barn milking cows. her husband was taking a nap in a nearby delivery truck. the 3-year-old daughter, the lone survivor of that fire, alerted her mother. she ran to the barn after smelling smoke. the cause of the fire still unknown. the children range in age from 7 months to 11 years old. and within the past hour, illinois governor pat quinn has signed legislation abolishing the death penalty in that state. there has been a moratorium on the death penalty for 11 years in illinois. illinois becomes the 16th state without capital punishment plus, an update on all the dead sardines in redondo beach harbor. looks like clean-up efforts will not be ease at all despite efforts to scoop up the fish quickly, officials say the process could take as long as a week. the fishy smell only expected to get worse and there's no answer as to exactly what caused the deaths of an estimated one million fish. and the numbers don't lie.

young americans are making their voices heard and making a big impact on presidential elections. take a look at the numbers from 2000 and 2008. every age group is consistent but a big spike in the turnout for voters under the age of 30. but with such a strong bloc of these young people voting, democratic republican leaders in some key states are looking to even the playing field for 2012. heather smith is the president of rock the vote. the point of this story is that you have some lawmakers at least republican lawmakers worried about the influence of young voters and even one lawmaker, state lawmaker referring to them as foolish. what do you make of this fear of the young vote? >> in a lot of states around the country starting in new hampshire where the speaker, the state speaker of the house called young people foolish for voting their feelings, there's clearly a sense of being threatened. they're having their own jobs threatened by the increased participation of young people. and rather than appealing to

these young voters, they're taking great strides to put laws in place that will just suppress and make harder for these young people to show up. >> that lawmaker, william o'brien out of new hampshire, gop speaker of the house. his quote was "they are kids voting liberal, voting their feelings with no life experience." what are some of the things you're seeing that you believe are an attempt to block young vote ares? >> starting in new hampshire, there's two bills being introduced. the first would eliminate the ability for same day voter registration. that means on election day, you can show up and if you're not already registered, you can register to vote at the polling booth. this has been on the books for many years. it's been on the books in states across the country for decades. it's really helped fuel participation of new voters. they're trying to overturn that law. and then second what they're doing is saying if you don't previously live in the town where you go to school, then as a student, you cannot vote in the state of new hampshire. in the town where you go to

college. >> is there a legitimate argument though behind perhaps even the last legislation or proposal? is it all just to keep young people from voting for the democratic party? that sounds strange. >> it does sound strange but they haven't been very shy about saying so. the state senator who's actually proposed the legislation or the state representative actually, he said point blank that this is about young people in particular students in college towns unfairly affecting the outcome of the elections. and you know, the supreme court has already ruled that students can vote in the colleges or in the towns where they go to college overturning and trying to place new restrictions to me is, you know, makes you wonder what kind of democracy we live in where we're making it harder instead of fueling increased participation of young voters. >> i know you and your organization work to get people out to vote to counter efforts to keep them down.

thanks, heather. >> thank you. still ahead it, can't be the fish and chips. a new report shows that people in the uk are healthier than americans. the reason why? well, we'll have that answer in a few minutes. first, president obama is taking his anti-bullying campaign to facebook. the president and the first lady have posted a video to promote their upcoming bullying is prevention conference at the white house. in the video, the president says school communities must be a safe space for children and that bullying must no longer be tolerated. president obama has nominated commerce stkt gary locke to be the new ambassador to china. if confirmed, he would be the first chooz american to hold this post. the president has not yet chosen a successor to locke's position. plus, white house party

hygiene issues and the in-laws. the three-year mark ended up being the average time that couples started getting annoyed by each other. the survey is part of an effort

behind the upcoming film "haul pass." three-year itch. lady gaga while she puts her fans out there to go after target, mel gibson strikes a plea deal. new reports about the future of broadway's most expensive show ever. let's get the scoop from pop culture columnist courtney hazlett. >> how are you today? >> very good. >> if you were planning on going to target to get lady gaga's special edition of "born this way" the album, you need to change your plans because she has come to dissolve the deal she had struck with target to distribute that. the reason is because she was concerned over the commitment that target was or was not making to the lgbt community. if you recall, not long ago, target was criticized for donating money to funds that supported anti-gay politicians in the past. they did apologize. i want to be fair to target.

they haven't given me a new statement but did apologize for those positions but lady gaga said not enough has been done up to this point to support her working with company. her represent tells me the mutual decision came just a few weeks ago to end that relationship with the two of them. >> moving on to mel gibson and oxana, we might be seeing a conclusion to this very ugly custody battle. hearing on friday mel will be going to court and enter a plea deal pleaing to simple battery, not the more extreme charges coming his way. his attorney had this to say. i know from almost 20 years as a criminal defense lawyer that are sometimes justice can come for a client at too high a personal price. mel's priority throughout all of this has been the best interests of his young children can be put first in all decisions made. it is only with that in mind that he asked me to approach the district attorney with a proposal. in a word, he realized this is going to play out so terribly

that the personal cost to the gibson, i.e., will he be able to work again is what he has had to consider in this. finally, spider-man. what is the fate of this expensive broadway musical? we're hearing things ranging from the director julie taymor will be completely axed to they have to cancel a month's worth of shows. right now the only official statement is that there is no official statement on and what changes are to come. >> there are changes coming. >> changes are coming, yes. expect additional people to be brought on board if not to replace her entirely, at least help make changes in that production. is there going to be widespread cancellations? it's a terrible business decision because the shows have been selling out. you don't want suddenly months of empty seats and refunding tickets or having to put it off any longer. also, the delay of the opening, look for that again. that would be the sixth time the official opening has been delayed sometime nearer to the tony awards. >> i really want to see this

show. >> you have a chance. many chances. >> all right. thank you very much. for the latest entertainment news, logon to scoop.todayshow.com. "news nation" will be right back. that's why there's brita, to make the water we drink, taste a little more, perfect. reduce lead and other impurities with the advanced filtration system of brita. time to face the pollen that used to make me sneeze. but with zyrtec® liquid gels, i get fast, 24-hour allergy relief. so i feel better by the time we tee off. zyrtec® liquid gels work fast, so i can love the air®. and here's what we did today in homes all across america: we created the electricity that powered the alarm clocks and brewed the coffee. we heated the bathwater and gave kelly a cleaner ride to school. cooked the cube steaks and steamed the veggies. entertained dad, and mom, and a neighbor or two. kept watch on the house when they slept. and tomorrow we could do even more.

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time now for the "news nation" gut check. a gay man is excused from jury duty here in new york because he says discrimination against gaze makes him a second class citizen and he's unable to be impartial as a result. the man is jonathan lovitz with me in the studio right now. good to have you on. we appreciate you coming on to talk with us about this. take me back to when you were called to jury duty and you made this decision. >> sure. well, first of all, thanks you so much for having me on. it was such a spur of the moment thing. i was sitting in jury duty waiting for my time to be called and posted on facebook that how could i possibly be asked to be

impartial when i don't have the same rights as the jury of my peers that i'm expected to be on. i put that out on internet and the miracle of social networking, it spread like a wildfire. a friend of mine who has a blog justin plus one.com spread it around the world so fast. the praise is pouring in from people saying this was is the right stand to take. >> that's the reaction you got after you told other people but there you are, you've been called for jury duty on your way in. were you thinking about this or was this a spontaneous move on your part? >> i was shaking and trembling when they got to the point where they said is anyone in the room incapable of being impartial. it came out of me spontaneously. i said i can't. >> what was the reaction. >> some gave me a high five and hug and other people at the time just shrugged and went oh. i can't believe it. which is to be expected. but i never intended to be an activist. that's not who i am.

>> you believe that is what you are now. >> if that's what we want to call it. i'm just a young gay man who saw inequality in the state and country and felt that's what was in my heart to say. >> we consulted a couple of legal analysts here at msnbc. they said a person is considered to have a bias or something extreme, it's up to the judge's discretion to throw that person off the jury that you can bring up these issues. again, it's up to the judge as to whether or not they keep you on the jury pool. you stuck around for two days. >> i did, two full days. a lot of people are saying you just did it to get excused. that couldn't be further from the truth. i mean, we have certain civic responsibilities like paying taxes and serving on juries. i think everyone is obligated to participate. when it's your turn to say how you feel, you need to say how you really feel. i said i couldn't possibly be impartial in this moment. >> it's so interesting. i want to mention because you were nice enough to join us live. you've got this new show "setup

squad on logo april 25th. you know what, you deserve it for coming in. >> i appreciate that. >> so what does the "news nation" think about this? should being a gay person be a reason, an exemption from serving jury duty? because you feel that you're a second class citizen? go to news nation.mnation.msnbc. take a look what the news nation says about yesterday's gut check. should a mom be charged with child abuse for slapping a child she says bullied her daughter. 38% of you said yes, 62% of you apparently are reasonable and rationale and said it's not a good idea to slap someone else's child. i'm tamron hall. martin bashir is up next. don't go away. ♪ phone surprised you?

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lunesta helps you fall asleep and stay asleep, so you can wake up feeling rested. when taking lunesta, don't drive or operate machinery until you feel fully awake. walking, eating, driving, or engaging in other activities while asleep, without remembering it the next day, have been reported. abnormal behaviors may include aggressiveness, agitation, hallucinations or confusion. in depressed patients, worsening of depression, including risk of suicide, may occur. alcohol may increase these risks. allergic reactions, such as tongue or throat swelling, occur rarely and may be fatal. side effects may include unpleasant taste, headache, dizziness and morning drowsiness. child abuse for slapping a child r a $0 co-pay at lunesta.com. sleep well, on the wings of lunesta. good afternoon. it's wednesday march 9th. here are the